HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY

 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES

 SURNAMES BEGINNING WITH "F" 

     FEEDLER, FIRDNAN, manager of Upson Coal Company's store,
Shawnee, Ohio; was born February 8, 1850, in Somerset, Ohio; son of
Jacob and Elizabeth (Lentz) Feedler. When Firdnan was two years
of age, his father moved to Cardington, Morrow county, Ohio, where
he was brought up, and clerked in a dry goods store five years, for W.
Shunk & Co.; and at Delaware, Ohio, clerked for Z. L. White two
years. He returned to Cardington, and entered into partnership with
his twin brother in the grocery business, remaining two years, when he
sold his interest and went to Richwood. and clerked for J. Cratty & Co.,
in dry goods store, about two years, when he moved with the same firm
to Ashland, Ohio, where they remained about eight months and then
moved to Shawnee. Mr. Feedler remained with this firm in all about
three years, when he went in partnership with his brother, under the
firm name of Feedler Brothers. They went into general merchandise
business, which they continued about eighteen months, when the firm
was dissolved, his brother going home and dying within about one
month. Mr. Feedler then engaged as clerk for E. M. McGilen & Co.,
Cleveland, Ohio, where he remained two years and one month, and
then returned to Shawnee, Ohio, April 1st, 1881, and took his present
position. He was married November 28, 1876, to Aldia, daughter of
Simeon F. Kern of Burbank, Wayne county, Ohio. They are the 
parents of two children, viz.: Geo. Rodney and Carrie Belle, deceased.

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     FERGUSON, JOHN, of the firm of Ferguson & Noon, Attorneys at
Law, New Lexington, Ohio; was born February 3, 1846, in Jackson
township; son of Terence and Bridget (Nangle) Ferguson. At
the age of nineteen, young Ferguson began teaching school, and taught
about six years. In 1868 he began reading law with Colonel Lyman J.
Jackson of this place, and was admitted to practice in August, 1871.
After practicing alone a short time, he formed a partnership with his
preceptor, which continued until the fall of 1877. In 1878 the present
firm was formed. Attorney Ferguson was married April 6th, 1875, to
Miss Lizzie, daughter of David and Susan (Gordon) Hewitt, of 
Somerset, this county. They are the parents of three children: Zuleme,
Charles and Genevieve.
     FERGUSON, ARTHUR B., shoemaker, Shawnee, Ohio; was born
March 28th, 1846 in Scotland, county of Lanark, in Lanarkhall; son
of John and Elizabeth (Browning) Ferguson. Mr. Ferguson was raised
in his native town, where he lived to the age of twenty years, during
which time he learned his trade with his father, and is the fifth generation 
of his family who has successfully followed that business. From
the age of seventeen years, he worked at journey work, which he 
contined about two years, when he employed on the railroad as brakeman,
and where he had his leg mashed, which left him a permanent cripple,
having followed the railroad about one year at the time of the accident.
After his recovery he again found employment at his trade for about
two years, in the counties of Ayr, Renfrew and Lanark. At this time
he emigrated to America, arriving at New York, January 21, 1867, and
from thence he went to Maryland, Alleghany county, where he was
employed at his trade and mining, for about two years, when he returned
to the place of his nativity, remaining during the winter of 1868 and
1860, when he again returned to America, landing in New York, April
23, 1869, and again went to Maryland, to Illinois and Pennsylvania, 
remaining about six months in each of these States, when he spent 
another summer in Maryland, from whence he went to the Hocking 
valley of Ohio, and remained about six months, when he was married,
January 24, 1872, to Amanda L., daughter of James and Martha 
(Zarlie) LeFollet, of Vinton county, Ohio, but lived in Athens county at the
time of her marriage. They are the parents of three children, viz.:
John LeFollet, Maud Agnes and Archibald Boyd, and one deceased,
Arthur Morton. After his marriage he lived in the Hocking valley
about five years, when he came to Shawnee, Ohio, where he has since
lived, and engaged in mining until about four years ago, when he was
obliged to quit mining on account of his health. Since then he has
been weighmaster at the New York furnace. Mr. Ferguson was 
corporation clerk for two years, and for the past six years has been 
township clerk; and in the spring of 1882, was elected Mayor of this
place.
     FINK, JOEL A., farmer, Jackson township; post office, Junction
City: son of Joseph and Magdalene (Dittoe) Fink; was born August
17, 1816, in this township; has since lived in the county, and always
led a farmer's life from boyhood. He was married in 1840, to Miss
Margaret, daughter of Thomas and Margaret (Doran) Ryan. They
are the parents of five children, viz.: Joseph, Sarah, Mary, William

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and Charles.  His parents were of German descent. Mr. Fink's
father came to Somerset in 1805, His grandfather, John Fink, assisted
in laying out the town of Somerset.
     FINCK, WILLIAM E., lawyer, Somerset; was born in Somerset, in
the year 1822. His father was Anthony Finck, and his mother's maiden
name was Mary Spurk. His grandfather was John Finck, an early
settler, if not the first, in Somerset. His wife was Cecelia Garaghty
of Lancaster, Ohio. Their sons are, William E., Jr., and Michael G.
Finck; the latter a grocer and the former a lawyer. Their daughters
are Mary, now wife of F. A. Dittoe, merchant of Somerset, and Miss
Martha. Mr. Finck is of French-German extraction. He studied law
and was admitted to practice in Somerset when only twenty-one years
of age. His first position was that of Clerk of the Perry County Common 
Pleas and Supreme Courts, under the old Constitution. In his
twenty-eighth year he was the Whig candidate for Congress, in a district
counting six hundred Democratic majority, and was defeated by only
forty-six votes, by Hon. James M. Gaylord of McConnelsville. He was
elected to the Senate of Ohio in 1851, and in 1852 was a delegate to the
National Convention which nominated General Winfield Scott for the
Presidency; was an elector on the Scott ticket in Ohio; joined the
Democratic party in 1854, when Know-Nothingism swept the Whig
party out of being; was elected to the Senate of Ohio in 1861, defeating 
the Hon. T. J. Maginnis of Zanesville in a hotly contested canvass;
was elected to Congress in 1862, defeating the Hon. C. A. Trimble of
Chillicothe; was re-elected to Congress in 1864, defeating the Hon. Job
E. Stephenson of Chillicothe; was again elected to Congress to fill the
unexpired term of Hon. Hugh J. Jewett of Columbus. He has twice
been a candidate upon the Democratic State, ticket, once for Attorney
General, and once for Supreme Judge. He has repeatedly refused a
candidacy for Common Pleas Judge, preferring his law practice, which
has secured for him a large amount of lands in Missouri and Iowa, a
handsome property in and around Somerset, several farms in Perry,
and though he cannot be engaged at the usual fee of young attorneys,
his practice is still very remunerative and engages all his time. No
man was ever more systematic in keeping his accounts, truer to the
faith which he professes to believe, or more honest toward his fellow
men.
     FINCK, JUDGE JAMES E., carpenter and builder; post office, 
Somerset. He was born in 1825; son of John, Jr., and grandson of
John, Sr., who was the first of the Finck name in Perry county, and
who cut much of the road for his wagon from Zanesville to Lancaster,
and who a year later came back to where Somerset now stands, which
town he laid out into lots and built a hotel where the public schools are
now located, on the hill above the east railroad depot. Judge Finck's
father was eighteen years of age when his grandfather, John, came to
Ohio. His mother was Elizabeth Walker, a native of Maryland. She
was born in the year 1800, and lived into her seventy-second year.
Her children were Mary, deceased; Cecelia, wife of Edward Droege;
and Sarah, wife of William Blakeney; Amanda, wife of Joseph Kircher; 
Miss Emily, and James E., all of whom have Somerset, Ohio, as
their post office address; also William, carbuilder, Zanesville, Ohio;

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Jacob, deceased, and Miles, engaged in mercantile life in Cincinnati.
James was married in 1847, to Miss Catharine Foncannon, and on the
same day his cousin, Hon. W. E. Fink was also married; neither knowing 
of the other's intention. Her father was an early settler of Perry,
where he died in his seventy-eighth year. Her brothers married and
went West, so that at this writing she has neither sister nor brother 
living in Perry.  The children of this marriage are Ida, wife of Conrad
Letsinger; post office, Somerset; Elva, wife of Mark Heffley, Omaha,
Nebraska; Miss Blanche, Endora and Alberta; Fabian, a carpenter of
Terre Haute, Indiana; Hydalius, Urban and Edgar. Judge James E.
Finck ranks in general esteem as a first-class carpenter and builder.
St. Joseph's, McLuney, South Fork and Holy Trinity Church edifices,
stand as monuments of his skill; but the recent convent building at St.
Joseph's crowns all with a taste, a beauty and elegance but seldom
equaled, and rarely, if ever, excelled. He aided the building of St.
Patrick's Church edifice, and is now engaged as the superintending 
carpenter and architect of Sacred Heart Convent, Somerset. He put up
the spire of the Reform Church edifices in Thornville and Somerset,
and it has not fallen to the lot of any man in Perry to build more
churches, or finer ones. In the fall of 1872, he was made the Democratic 
nominee for Probate Judge by the popular vote against a field of
candidates who ranked high in popular favor, such as Henry McLaughlin, 
his cousin, A. A. Fink, Peter King and Charles F. Brush, ex-Treasurer. 
He was afterwards twice elected, and served the customary two
terms with credit to himself and the public. Since his retirement he has
again devoted himself to his favorite occupation of carpentering.
His rural home nestles beautifully among the coal hills of Perry;
and here his garden and fruit culture occupy his leisure hours. His
head measures twenty-two and one-half inches; is also high and long;
his health is excellent and his disposition cheerful. Height, five feet
eight inches. Weight, one hundred and seventy-five pounds.
     FINCK, AUSTIN A., was born in 1829 in Somerset; son of Anthony
and grandson of John Finck, the grand progenitor of this family in Perry
county. The sons of this ancient pioneer were Jacob, Joseph, George,
Anthony, John, Adam, and David Finck; the daughters were Mrs.
Sarah Johnson, Mrs. Elizabeth McDonald, Mrs. Frances Hewett, and
Mrs. Mary McGowen. Austin A. was educated in Perry county and
drilled in the duties of a dry goods clerk. In May, 1854, he was married 
to Miss Caroline Lewis, of Rushville. Their children are William
B. Finck, Miss Carrie and Miss Ellie Finck. Austin A. Finck runs
far ahead of his ticket for clerk of his township, which office, as also
that of village clerk, he is now filling, as for a long time since, to the
satisfaction of the public. His great capacity as a dry goods clerk,
ripened also by experience as a merchant on his own account, has
secured for him a situation in the famous store-rooms of F. A. Dittoe,
Esq., of Somerset. Here his urbanity, honesty and attentiveness to
customers are winning a large trade for that celebrated establishment.
The store-room was built by Mr. Mike Dittoe, an architect of thirty
years experience in New York City, which was presented to his brother,
F. A. Dittoe, and is equal to the best in Ohio in finish and adaptation

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to its present use, and for many coming years will stand as a model of
architectural taste.
     FINK, DAVID, farmer; post office, Somerset, Ohio. He was born
in 1830. and is a son of Joseph and grandson of John Finck, the great
ancestor of all the Fincks in Reading township, and who is the father
of Somerset, having settled where the Union school-house of that town
now stands in 1804 or 1805. His house, which served for a tavern, was
the first ever erected in the town, of which John Finck and one Miller
became the original proprietors. He owned the famous " Finck's
Spring," now the property of his grandson, Hon. William E. Finck.
No Catholic name antedates that of John Finck and his wife, whose
maiden name was Mary Sneeringer. This venerable pair, with their
family, were themselves numerous and devoted enough to form
the nucleus of the first Catholic church not only in Perry county but in
the State of Ohio. David Fink's mother was, prior to her marriage,
in 1815. Miss Magdalena Dittoe, daughter of Jacob, Sr..and sister of
Jacob, Jr., who deceased in Somerset in 1880. The brothers of David
are Joel A., post office Junction City, Ohio; James J., post office New
Lexington, Ohio; and his sisters are Sarah, wife of Thomas Largey.
post office Altoona, Iowa; Elizabeth, wife of Daniel Riffle, Lancaster,
Ohio. David Fink was first married in 1853 to Miss Bridget Dittoe,
who died April 29th, 1856. His second marriage was to Miss Lizzie
O'Brien, February, 1861, who is the mother of Emerantia, Imelda S.,
Margaret L., Oscar M., Mary Nora, Helen C., and Estella C. Fink.
David obtained his farm by deed from his father, who died in 1870, at
the age of seventy-nine years, his mother having died in 1863. This
delightful homestead is in sight of St. Joseph's; contains the nearest
coal vein to Somerset; is well adapted to fruit and small grain. Four
hundred gallons of Iona and Concord wine, the vintage of 1881, testify
its capacity for fruit growing. Like his ancestors, he is a devoted and
sincere Catholic; has also served in various official stations, by the favor
of his fellow citizens, and is by no means among the hindmost in the
march of progress.
     FLANIGAN, JOHN, farmer and stock raiser, post office Rehoboth;
born in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, in 1820. From there he
came to Wheeling, West Virginia, where he remained two years; from
there he came to Perry county about the year 1824; son of Edward
and Cecelia (Katon) Flanigan. The former died in 1823, the latter in
1874. Married in 1844 to Miss Rachel Beaver, daughter of George
and Elizabeth (Bridge) Beaver. They have three children, viz.:
Katharine S., deceased, Mary E. and Thomas E.
     FLAUTT, GEORGE, was born in 1799; died in 1862. His father,
Joseph, and his mother, were born, reared and married in one of
the Rhinish provinces of France. Grandfather Joseph Flautt and his
wife came to America and settled in Canawaga county, Maryland,
where all their children were born. These children were Deborah,
Hannah, Jacob, Joseph and George Flautt. All lived to be over eighty.
Hannah married William Mooney, who became a justice of the peace,
and member of the Legislature of Maryland. Jacob was twice married. 
Joseph was married and one of his sons was a devoted Catholic

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priest. They all lived and died in Maryland, except George, who was
twice married. His first wife was Miss Mooney, the mother of six
children-William, Patrick, James, John, Mary and Nancy Flautt. Of
these, William taught school, read medicine, practiced his profession
forty years, and died in Hocking county, Ohio; Patrick still lives in
the same county, a justice of the peace, a chair maker and painter by
trade; James also was a physician for thirty years, and died in Readsburg, 
Sauk county, Wisconsin; John came to Ohio in 1834.; in 1836
went to Texas on horseback, served in the wars there, and in 1848 
settled in Hocking County, where he married Miss Ellen White, daughter
of Alexander White; was elected Sheriff of the county, served several
months of his second term, when he met his death by accident of a
runaway team. He was a Mason and an Odd Fellow. Mary married
William Burns, and moved to Richland county, Ohio; Nancy's second
husband is Isaac Koons. She lives in Maryland. Her deceased husband 
was John Harman, by whom she had two children. The second
marriage of George Flautt was to Margaret Harbaugh. This marriage
also occurred in Maryland, several years after the death of his first
wife. The children of this marriage are: Ambrose, a successful merchant 
of Amanda, Fairfield county, Ohio; Juliana, deceased, wife of
Edward Kelly, a stone mason of Somerset, leaving two children; Joseph,
a cooper, a farmer, a clerk of the township, and assessor. He was also
trustee of the township for some years. His wife was Mary McDonald. 
They have had ten children, four daughters and six sons. Three
of the daughters are married. The next son of George Flautt is
Henry, a man of sterling judgment as a farmer. He married Catharine 
Sanderson, and they have seven children. Sebastian is a cooper
and farmer, and lives on the Flautt homestead, in Reading township.
He married Ellen Mooter, and they have two children. Jerome Flautt,
like his father, learned the cooper trade and the gunsmithing trade.
He was successively elected clerk of the town for some years. He
writes an excellent hand, and takes much delight in rearing the best
fruits and poultry. He spent nearly two years near Mobile, Alabama,
experimenting in gardening early vegetables for the Northern markets.
He married Sarah Freeman, and they have five children-Leta, Fanna,
Kata, Ferdinand and Murray. George Flautt, the youngest son, is
also a cooper, making the Flautt churn, invented by his father, and for
many years past the leading churn. He has built three new houses,
and for many years was clerk of the township. He married Cecelia
Divit, and they have four children. Elizabeth is the wife of John McDonald, 
of Nelsonville, Ohio, a brick mason, and a soldier who served in
the Union army with faithfulness to the end. They have six children.
Margaret married L. P. Guisinger, a native of Perry, a teacher, a
farmer, a plasterer, an agent, and a genius in mechanics. They have
seven children. His post office is Chalfants, Perry county.
     FLOWERS, THOS., farmer and stock raiser, post office New Lexington,
Clayton township, Perry county; born in Muskingum county in 1814.;
came to Perry county in 1820; son of Joseph and Elizabeth (Ambrose)
Flowers. The former died January 17, 1867, the latter in 1864. Mr.
Flowers was married in 1837 to Miss Mary Daugherty. They are the
parents of ten children, viz.: Elizabeth C., Rebecca S., Simon H.,

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William, deceased, John J., Anna A., George, Andrew G., Emanuel
F., Charles V., two of whom are married. Mr. Flowers had two sons
in the late war, viz.: William and Simon. They enlisted in Company
K, One Hundred and Twenty-sixth O. V. I., Captain Lampton. They
were engaged in the battle of the Wilderness, where it is supposed
William lost his life, as he was never heard of afterwards. Simon was
wounded in that engagement. Simon was also engaged in the following
additional battles, viz.: Martinsburg, Locust Grove, Mine Run, Siege
of Charleston, Winchester, Cedar Creek, Fisher's Hill, Middletown.
     FLOWERS, JEFFERSON, mechanic, foreman in Bent Works of 
Bringardner & Company, Junction City, Ohio; son of Mathias and Mary
(Elder) Flowers; was born December 5, 1845, in this county, and has
since lived in the county. His boyhood days were spent on a farm
until he was nineteen years of age. He then went to the carpenter
trade, and worked at it till 1879, then went into the bent works. He
was married in 1870 to Miss Mary, daughter of Joel A. and Margaret
(Ryan) Fink. They are the parents of two children, viz.: Teresea C.
and Maggie L. His parents are of German and Irish descent.
     FORQUER, WILLIAM, Pleasant township, Moxahala post office. He
was born in Butler county, Pennsylvania, October 25, 1822; son of
William and Rose (Dugan) Forquer, who were both natives of Ireland.
They emigrated to this country in 1795; stayed in Philadelphia about
three years, and then moved to Butler county, Pennsylvania. They
came to Pike township in 1823, and both died on the farm he entered
there. William Forquer married Catharine Donahoe, in 1845; she is a
native of this township. After his marriage he moved to the farm
where he now resides. Her parents were born in Ireland, and both
died in the United States. His children are George, who married
Mary Bennett, and resides in this township: Peter, married Celia 
Bennett, and resides in this township; Mary A., married F. B. Bennett,
resides in this township; Sarah, married John A. McDonagle, who is
now elected Clerk of the Court of this county, and resides in New
Lexington; Rose, married Thomas Bennett; she died in New 
Lexington; William is at home; Loretta deceased, and Loretta living.
     FOSTER, EMANUEL, born 1823, on the farm where he now resides.
Post office, Thornville. His mother's maiden name was Maria Mechling. 
His father, Andrew Foster, died in his sixty-ninth year, in 1849,
and Mother Foster in her sixty-ninth year in 1858. It is not certain
when the Rev. William Foster, the father of Andrew, arrived with his
family in Perry county, then Fairfield, but from a document signed
by him in 1805, organizing Zion's church, which document is now in
possession of the venerable George Daniels, it must have been prior to
1805. The wife of Rev. Foster was a Daniels, and thus the connection 
between the Fosters and the Daniels name in Thorn township.
Grandfather Foster came to Thorn township, when the low flat lands
were avoided and more rolling lands were in demand. He died in
1815, the first preacher of the Lutheran faith who settled in Perry
county. The sons of Rev. William Foster were William, Daniel, 
Andrew, Henry, George, Christian, Samuel, Benjamin and John. The
daughters were Magdalena, wife of John Walters; Mrs. John Fox, and
Mrs. Jacob Mechling, of Fairfield county. Mrs. Fox's only daughter,

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that ever lived in Perry or Fairfield counties, married Peter Custer, of
Fairfield county. The mother of these nine sons and three daughters
was Magdalena Daniels, who died in 1823, her husband, Rev. William 
Foster, having preceded her to the grave some eight years before. 
Of these twelve children, John is the only one who never married, 
and he is supposed to have lost his life on a trip to New Orleans.
All got from their father one hundred and sixty acres of land, and the
quarter section bought for John went to the other heirs. Thus it required 
no less than three sections or nineteen hundred and twenty acres
to reach round to all the children. To return to Andrew, the father of
Emanuel Foster. Of ten children only the following grew to mature
age: Jacob, deceased, whose wife was Elizabeth Holt; Joseph, deceased, 
whose wife was Elizabeth Sult; Mary, deceased wife of James
Clifton; Elijah, of whom more hereafter; Mahala, wife of Peter W.
Sprinkle, post office, Holden, Johnson county, Missouri, and Emanuel
who was married to Susan E. Franks, daughter of Rezin Franks, late of
Thorn township, a noted and very successful stock dealer and farmer.
The children of Emanuel Foster and his wife Susan, are Benton C.;
Maria Edith; William E.; Martha May, and Aaron Harlan, now eleven
years of age. Mr. Foster has two farms in Thorn township and eighty
acres in Van Wert county, Ohio, is a firm Democrat in politics, and
Lutheran in religion, and enjoys the confidence of all for honesty and
his moral worth.
     FOSTER, ELIJAH, born November 30, 1820, son of Andrew and
brother of Emanuel Foster. In 1849 Elijah was married to Miss Jane
Turner, who after bearing him one son, Charles Foster, of Pickerington, 
Ohio, died in May, 1852. He then went to California, and after a
protracted stay of fourteen years in the mountains of California, Oregon, 
Idaho, Utah and Montana, prospecting as a miner and undergoing
all the hardships of camp and frontier life, in 1869 returned home and
was married to a Miss Katharine Anderson, daughter of Thomas 
Anderson, an early settler of Fairfield county who shares with him the
joys and comforts of their beautiful and fruitful home in the suburbs of
Thornville. There are no children by this last marriage. Mr. Foster
is a benevolent, kind and generous citizen, modest, and retiring for
pleasure to the precincts of home, and seeking the abodes of the needy
only to gratify his exalted benevolence and humanity. He has followed
the elk waist deep in snow The Gallatin valley is the warmest he saw,
and it has frost high up every month in the year, and snow in sight all
the time. Up toward the sources of the streams named, the whole year
round the snow line is in sight. Mr. Foster is six feet one inch tall,
weighs one hundred and sixty pounds, and when in California his weight
ran up to one hundred and ninety pounds. There is a volume of the most
thrilling adventure, instructive facts, and profitable experience in his 
fourteen years of mountain life as a miner, a gardener, a lumberman, and
a hunter.
     FOSTER, JAMES, was born where he now lives in Thorn township,
Perry county, in 1833, on section twenty, the homestead of his father,
George Foster, and of his grandfather, Rev. William Foster, who died
in 1815, and whose tomb is on the same farm. The maiden name of
James Foster's mother was Christena Bean, and that of his grandmother

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was Magdalena Daniels. His brothers were Samuel, deceased, in Van
Wert county, Ohio, who left two sons and three daughters; Simon, the
husband of Susan Fisher; and John. deceased, leaving one son and
two daughters, all of Van Wert county, Ohio. His sisters were Mary,
wife of Henry Cover; Elizabeth, wife of Charles Denman; and Saloma, 
wife of John Avery, all of Van Wert county, Ohio. These with
James are four sons and three daughters. The father of this family.
George Foster, died in 1858, in his sixty-ninth year, and the mother in
1857, in her sixty-third year. The year prior to the latter event James
Foster was married to Miss Diana, daughter of Henry Boyer, Jr., and
granddaughter of Henry Boyer, Sr. It will be observed that he was
one of seven heirs to the homestead, and after the death of his father,
the law distributed the estate.  It was valued in 1860 at $5,530,
each share being estimated at $790, at which price James became the
purchaser of the home farm, comprising one hundred and sixty acres,
more or less. He not only paid for it, but has now erected a splendid
dwelling house, and spacious barns, and the entire farm presents the
marks of thrift and comfort. His children are six in number, five sons
and one daughter, Leoh Katharine, the eldest, being the wife of Joseph
Beck, post office, Thornville. The sons are all at home. Their names
are Charles Allen, Henry Lee, William Edward, James Albert, and
George Simon, now three years old. He and his wife are of the 
Lutheran faith. The first draft in 1862 took James Foster, and he paid
James Richey, of Somerset, $375 to go as his substitute. It is supposed 
his farm was first occupied by grandfather Foster in 1803, but
other recollections put it anywhere between that and 1807. James
weighs one hundred and sixty-five pounds, is five feet ten inches tall.
His father was six feet one inch, and weighed two hundred pounds.
He was no hunter, like Uncle Ben Foster. He related the fine appearance 
of Kentucky soldiers who passed through northward in the war
of 1812. They were all six-footers. James was administrator of his
father's estate, and executor of his father-in-law's; owns two hundred
acres of land, and is a living witness to the fact that farming pays, and
that industry and economy win the prize.
     FOWLER, DAVID C., farmer and tanner, New Lexington, Ohio, was
born October 18, 1822, upon the quarter section where he now lives.
He is a son of John and Sarah (Brown) Fowler. Mr. Fowler was raised
on a farm, and at the age of nineteen years went to the tanner's trade
with John H. Stewart, of New Lexington, Ohio, remaining two years
with him when he went to Baltimore city, Maryland, and finished his
trade in fourteen months with William Jenkins & Sons, of No. 4 Water
street. After learning his trade he returned to this place and opened a
tanyard of his own, where he continued as a tanner until January, 1883;
in all thirty-six years. Having sold out to John A. Armstrong, of
Athens county, Ohio, he gave his entire attention to farming, and
the running of a stationary steam saw-mill, which he has been running
for the past thirteen years. During the above time he bought eighty-
four acres of land, most of which is a part of his father's homestead,
and has farmed more or .less for ten or twelve years past. In 1864 he
went into the army as Captain of Co. F, One Hundred and Sixtieth
Regiment, Ohio National Guards, and served four months, receiving

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an honorable discharge, and returned home in September. He also
had four brothers in the service, viz.: Isaac, John W., Benjamin and
William, two of whom were captains, John and Benjamin, serving in
the Thirtieth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, three years' service,
and were both wounded, partially disabling each of them for life.
Benjamin veteranized, and was engaged in eleven battles, and was on
Sherman's march to the sea. Isaac died while in the army. In all the
five brothers served about twelve years in their country's defense, and
their father was a soldier in the war of 1812. Mr. Fowler has, upon
his father's side of the house, a great aunt, Ann Fowler, who is ninety-
six years old, living in Maryland; and upon his mother's side of the
house, a great uncle, Rev. Mathew Brown, of Wood county, Ohio,
who is ninety-six years of age. Patriotism and longevity is seldom so
marked as in the Fowler family, and their ancestors. Mary Fowler,
the oldest sister of D. C. Fowler, saw her great grandmother, on her
mother's side of the house, married at the age of eighty years to a man
by the name of Goodin, aged eighty-one years, who after their marriage 
kept house ten years, when they became so feeble that in after
life they lived with their children,she living to be ninety-six years old.
Mr. Fowler's father, John Fowler, was born July 18, 1786, in Baltimore 
county, Maryland, came to Ohio in 1811, and was the first settler
in Pike township. Mr. Brown became the father of twenty children by
two marriages, all of whom he raised to manhood and womanhood.
The oldest, Sarah Brown, was born July 17, 1796, in Hampshire county,
Virginia, came to Ohio at an early day and was married to John Fowler, 
September 12, 1816. They became the parents of eleven children,
viz.: Mary A., Susannah, Richard, David C., Eliza, Isaac, John
W., Mariah, Cyrus, Benjamin, and William H., of whom David C.
is the subject of this sketch. Father Fowler died in March, 1874, at
the age of eighty-seven years. Mother Fowler died in March, 1863,
aged sixty-seven years. Mr. Fowler, the subject of this sketch, was
married March 26, 1846, to Miss Cornelia S., daughter of Vincent and
Ellen (Hogland) Smith, of Washington county, Ohio. They are the
parents of five children, viz.: Acta C., now Essington, living in this
county; James C., Superintendent of the New Lexington Union
Schools at this time; Alice C., now Kennen, of Licking county, Ohio;
one daughter who died in infancy; and Lucellie, now Morgan, living
in New Lexington, Ohio. Mrs. Fowler's parents came to Washington
county, Ohio, from Connecticut at an early day. Mr. Fowler is now
one of Perry county's oldest citizens, having been born and raised
here; has enjoyed remarkably good health, and never saw a person
shake with ague.
     FOWLER, WILLIAM H., farmer, Pike township, New Lexington,
Ohio; was born February 3, 1837, in this township, son of John and
Sarah (Brown) Fowler; was raised a farmer, and has followed agricultural 
pursuits to the present time, and made his home with his father
up to the time of his death some eight years ago. He is the youngest
member of the family of eleven children, and became the support of his
father in his declining years. He now lives upon the first land entered
by his father in 1811, and where his father died. At the time of his 
entry there was but little timber cut between here and the Ohio River,

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consequently he was obliged to clear out his farm of one hundred and 
sixty acres, by the assistance of his sons.  Game of all kinds was plenty,
and he traded four acres of land, a part of the present site of New 
Lexington, for a gun that was valued at $40. Mr. Fowler, the subject of
this sketch, was married November 5, 1859, to Miss Harriet, daughter
of William and Rachel (Skinner) Davis. They became the parents of
two children, viz.: Albert and Cora. Mrs. Fowler departed this life
in March, 1874. He was married the second time, Nov. 3, 1875, to
Martha, daughter of John and Sarah (Strawn) Davis. They became
the parents of one child, Wilbert Franklin. Mr. Fowler enlisted
in Company G, One Hundred and Fourteenth Regiment, O. V. I.,
August, 1862, for three years, or during the war, and served just to the
close of the war, and his term of enlistment, and was engaged in the
following battles: Mobile, Alabama; Graham's Plantation; Chickasaw 
Bluff's, and Vicksburg. Held the office of Corporal, and also had
four brothers in the army, three of whom were Captains, viz.: John,
Benjamin and David, and his father served in the was of 1812.
     FOWLER, PROF. J. C., Superintendent of New Lexington public
schools, born November 4, 1852, in this place; son of D. C. and 
Cornelia S. (Smith) Fowler. Young Fowler was educated in the public
schools of his native town and by self culture he has become a thorough
English scholar.  At the age of seventeen, Professor Fowler began
teaching, and has been constantly in the profession up to the present
time. He took his present position in 1877.
     FOX GEORGE, butcher, Corning, Ohio, was born February 23,
1857, near Logan, Hocking county, Ohio, son of John G. and Catharine 
(Weiland) Fox. George was brought up on the farm where his
father now lives. At the age of fourteen he went to the blacksmith
trade and worked one year. Then he went to New Lexington, Ohio,
and worked in a butcher-shop for his brother-in-law, Weiland, until
1876, when he went to Columbus and worked in a meat shop one 
season. He then traveled about one year, and worked in a number of
places until he located at Logan, and carried on a butcher shop until
March, 1881, when he came to his present place. Mr. Fox was married 
in March, 1880, to Margaret, daughter of Anthony and Catharine
(Rectenwald) Steden. They are the parents of one child, Annie 
Catharine Fox.
     FOX, FRANK E., formerly of the firm of Huston & Fox, family 
groceries, New Lexington. Mr. Fox was born May 26, 1861,in Logan, 
Hocking county, Ohio; son of John and Catherine Fox. Young Fox came to
this place in 1872, and attended school four years, then entered a grocery 
store as clerk, where he remained until the present firm was formed, 
January 21, 1880. He has since sold his interest and now does
business in Corning.
     FRANCIS, ERASTUS F., contractor, Shawnee, Ohio, was born 
February 16, 1830, in Licking county, Ohio, son of William and Lavina
(Boilen) Francis. Mr. Francis was brought up on a farm and followed
agricultural pursuits up to 1851, at which time he went as an apprentice
to learn the distiller's trade, serving, one year,and then followed the 
business about seven years in Peru, Miami county, Indiana. Again he 
returned to agricultural pursuits, in Indiana, for three years, and for

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twelve years in Licking county, Ohio, upon his brother's farm, and two
years upon the Shawnee Valley Coal Company's farm in this county.
After this he engaged with the Straitsville Cannel Coal Company of
New York, for five years, as long as it existed, and then employed with
the Ohio Central Coal Company of Corning, and has remained with
them up to this time as a contractor and otherwise.  Mr. Francis was
married June 1, 1856, to Mary, daughter of James and Elizabeth
Davis, of Miami county, Indiana. They are the parents of two children, 
viz.: Charles and Walter. He was married a second time, December 
6, 1869, to Mariah, daughter of Courtney and Margaret Debevoise. 
They are the parents of seven children, viz.: Three living,
Milton, Annie and William, and four dead, Hester, infant, Lovina and
Edward. Mr. Francis was enlisted in Company E, One Hundred and
Thirty-fifth Regiment, 0. N. G., and served in the army of the Potomac 
four months, and was in an engagement at John Brown's school
house. Was drafted while in the service and again, soon after returned 
into the service and remained until the war was over, and served
five years in the State service.
     FRANKLIN, R. H., butcher, Junction City, Ohio, was born in 
Carroll county, Maryland, June 16, 1836; is a son of Nathan and Susan
(Demit) Franklin; lived on the farm until 1865, then went to his present
business in Centerville, Carroll county, Maryland; came to Junction
City in 1873, following the same business. Was married in 1857, to
Miss Ann M., daughter of Joshua and Martha (Porter) Barnes. They
are the parents of four sons and one daughter, viz.: Nathan G., 
Augustus, Catharine, Joseph Ellsworth and Joshua Edward.
     FREE, JOHN W., attorney, New Lexington; son of Dr. John and
Catharine Free, was born in York county, Pennsylvania, August 8,
1830. His mother's maiden name was Catharine Newman.  She was
of English descent, and nearly related to the Newmans who were the
first settlers of Richland county, Ohio. Dr. Free,the father, was of 
German descent, and an Evangelical (Albrecks) preacher, as well as a 
physician. When John W., was about one year old, the family moved to
Mansfield, Ohio, and in 1841, to the neighborhood of McCutchenville,
Wyandot county, in the same State. Here, for several years, he divided 
his time between attending school in the winter and working on the
farm, and at the plastering trade in the summer. He taught school for
a number of terms, commencing when only sixteen years of age. He
also attended two sessions at Heidleberg College, Tiffin, Ohio. In the
year 1856, he came to New Lexington, Perry county, Ohio, and engaged 
in the mercantile business. He was engaged in Straitsville in
the same business, when, August 1, 1861, he received an order from
Governor Dennison to raise a company of three years troops. The men
were raised in a very few days, and August 7th, he reported to Governor 
Dennison with one hundred and ten men, and was commissioned
Captain of Company A, Thirty-first Regiment, O. V. I. This was the
first three years men enlisted in the county. February 28, 1862, Captain 
John W. Free was promoted to Major of the regiment. He followed 
the fortunes of the regiment, and was engaged in most all the 
important battles of the Army of the Cumberland, to which department
the regiment belonged. After being mustered out of the Military

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service, December 21, 1864, Major Free resumed mercantile pursuits at
New Lexington, and also read law in the office of Butler & Jackson.
During the winter of 1867-68, he attended a course of lectures at the
Cincinnati Law College, and graduated there in the spring of 1868,
since which time he has practiced his profession at New Lexington.
Major Free is a Republican in politics, and has generally taken an 
active part in political affairs, but always declined office. Mr. Free was
married April 1, 1858, to Miss Catharine Frantz, daughter of Solomon
Frantz, of the neighborhood of New Lexington. His first wife died
April 14, 1865, and he was again married, February 2, 1866, to Miss
Martha Moore, daughter of Andrew Moore, then of Hocking county,
now of Perry. His second wife died in 1873, and in 1876, he was 
married to Mrs. Laura E. Watkins, of Washington, C. H., Ohio. He is the
father of four children, two being dead.
     FUCHS, N., butcher, New Straitsville. He was born October 25, 1828,
in Venningen Rheinbegern, Germany; is a son of Jacob and Mary 
(Valinger) Fuchs, natives of the same place. He came to America in 1853,
and settled in Cincinnati, where he followed the trade of a barber. Ten
years after, he returned to Germany and married Clementine Englert.
Mr. Fuchs remained in Germany several years, keeping hotel. Two
sons, Charles and Euguene, were born there. In 1868 he returned to
America, and located in Lancaster, Fairfield county, where he remained
until 1872, keeping a grocery. Here his son, Frank, was born. Mr.
Fuchs next moved to New Straitsville. where he kept a general assortment 
of goods, three or four years, since which time he has been carrying 
on a good business as a butcher. Four children were born here,
viz.: Christ, August, Lee and Anna.
     FULLERTON, WILLIAM, merchant and postmaster, Mount Perry.
He was born June 9, 1845, in Hopewell township, this county; is a son
of John and Matilda (Crawford) Fullerton. He was brought up on a
farm, where he resided until 1878, when he came to Mount Perry and
established his present business. He carries a general stock of dry
goods, groceries, and such articles as are needed in stores in small
towns, and has an excellent trade. He was married March 13, 1877. to
Amanda, daughter of Henry and Sarah Jones. They have two 
children, Martin P., and Annie May.
     FUNDERBURG, NOAH, farmer, post office, Somerset; born 1827; is a
son of Jacob Funderburg and his wife, who was Priscella Henthorn,
grandson of Noah Funderburg, who, with his wife, emigrated from 
Germany to Frederick county, Maryland, where Jacob was born in 1785, 
and who, with father, mother, one brother, and six sisters, came to Perry
county, in a six-horse and one-horse wagon. He bought a half section of
land near Somerset, and soon found half of it was only a tax title, and
the other half no better. He must thus have lost nearly $1,500, and he
gathered up his effects, and with money still left, bought one hundred
and sixty acres in section three, Thorn township, where he lived and
died a few years afterwards. His widow died at the house of one of
her daughters, in Jackson township, some years later, at the age of
ninety. Jacob became the owner of the Thorn township farm, on
which he lived to the date of his death, in 1878, and in his eighty-fifth
year. Noah is of English-Welsh extraction on the maternal side, and

412 

thus his mother tongue is English. October, 1851, he was married to
Miss Phebe Skinner, daughter of William, who came to Perry county
in 1808, and whose first wife and her infant were drowned in Kent's Run
while returning on horseback from Zanesville. Her maiden name was
Sarah Jones, and her only surviving child became the second wife of
Judge George Kishler, of Perry. Mr. and Mrs. Funderburg own and
reside where she was born, and in the same brick house erected by her
father, about 1820, and which preserves all its fine appearance, without
any sign of decay, after sixty odd years of exposure. This farm, with
additions, now comprises one hundred and seventy-five acres. Like all
good farmers, his land grows better and not poorer. He prefers wheat
to wool-growing, and has for five years averaged $125 per acre from
a vineyard lot. His first tax was fifty-four cents, and has since risen to
as many dollars,  The care of her afflicted mother, the second wife of
her father, William Skinner, who was, prior to her marriage, Miss
Mary Oatley, fell upon Mrs. Funderburg, and to this task, of some
years duration, was added the care, also, of her husband's uncle.
"Sammy" Funderburg, who suffered from his seventh year a mental
disease, caused by scarletina,so that he was placed under guardianship,
which office was kindly and faithfully performed by Mr. and Mrs.
Funderburg, who, like her ancestors, is an O. S. Baptist, and like them.
also, distinguished for her kindness and hospitality. Their children
are: Mary E., George C., Laura C., Minerva B., William T., Jacob
R., Rachel C., John H., and Noah E.

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